This comment section: people who’ve never cracked open an economics textbook or seriously thought about this.
Intermediaries can bring down distribution costs.
It’s pretty easy to see how.
Consider N farmers & M markets: that results in NM trips to distribute all their goods to every market.
Add a single intermediary: this reduces to N + M trips to distribute goods.
This reduces overhead costs.
The farmer can sell in bulk to the intermediary.
The intermediary can ship in bulk goods of all farmers to the markets.
Less fuel & time is wasted transporting everything.
Partners can specialize in their respective tasks.
Farmers don’t need to rent booths, put their goods on display, wait there all day, or handle all the customers at each market.
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This comment section: people who’ve never cracked open an economics textbook or seriously thought about this.
Intermediaries can bring down distribution costs. It’s pretty easy to see how.
Consider N farmers & M markets: that results in NM trips to distribute all their goods to every market. Add a single intermediary: this reduces to N + M trips to distribute goods. This reduces overhead costs. The farmer can sell in bulk to the intermediary. The intermediary can ship in bulk goods of all farmers to the markets. Less fuel & time is wasted transporting everything.
Partners can specialize in their respective tasks. Farmers don’t need to rent booths, put their goods on display, wait there all day, or handle all the customers at each market.